morrison-dylan-fan Being a fan of auteur film maker Mario Bava,I was absolutely thrilled to get the DVD from a very kind fellow IMDber of Mario Bava's adventure in the Comic-Book genre,and decided to save it for a special event. Doing some major film viewings as ICM held a best of 1968 movie poll,it felt like the perfect time to find out how diabolic things could get.The plot:Aware of the government staging a fake transfer of $10 million in order to distract them,master criminal Diabolik and his partner Eva Kant turn the tables on the law,and steal the real money. As the government approve a return of the death penalty to bring crime down,Diabolik makes the government a laughing stock,by setting off laughing gas at the conference. Deciding they want the same thing,the police and the underworld team up,as Diabolik sets off on a diamond robbery filled with danger.View on the film:Setting the film off like a rocket,the score by Ennio Morricone sends the rocket into space with a Surf Punk score that was ten years ahead of its time, with Morricone's rumbling drums and waves of guitar riffs flying along the superhero caper. Expressing in the commentary how proud he still was of the movie, John Phillip Law gives an energetic performance as Diabolik,with Law giving Danger a devil may care attitude,to outwitting the law at every turn.Shimmering when stepping in her first Comic-Book panel, Marisa Mell gives an enchanting performance as Eva Kant,who along with looking gorgeous in disguises,is also given a quick-wit by Mell,making Kant the perfect partner in crime for Diabolik. Putting his own paint brush on the astonishingly beautiful matte painting,co- writer/cinematographer/directing auteur Mario Bava puts his distinctive bright colour designs into vivid Comic-Book pulp Pop- Art, with limited sets being seamlessly blended to lush matte painting covering the pages of Diabolik's adventure in exploding red,greens blues and yellow. Masterfully using the matte paintings to create Comic-Book panel framing, Bava draws an exciting,adventure atmosphere with high- stylised whip-pans and circling camera moves unmasking the danger of Danger Diabolik.

FlashCallahan Thief Diabolik wreaks havoc on a generic European country for his own financial gain and amusement. He shares an extravagant underground lair with his curvaceous, yet shallow girlfriend...who uses her looks and allure, to help Diabolik kill innocent people and steal billions from the government. Because of the origins of his wealth, Diabolik must face off against bumbling cops and revenge-seeking mafia........You done just see this film, you experience it, because its one of the most trippy, psychedelic, and surreal movies you will ever see. Yes, 2001: A Space Odyssey, has that trippy sequence, and all around stoner feel to it, but this is just blatantly in your face bonkers.For starter, we are rooting for a quite despicable person, a murderer, a robber, who in any normal film would be the main villain, but here, you cannot help but like him, because the film almost brainwashes you to do so, as the other characters are so superfluous to the narrative.Law is brilliant as the titular character, and proves that he made some wonderful decisions in the sixties, as this, along with Barbarella, are two of the most iconic movies from that decade. Yes, there are more popular movies, but these two films are referenced so many times, that you may think you've already seen them numerous times before.It out Bonds Connery, and Myers could only wish Austin Powers will be as fresh a this still feels thirty years from now.The soundtrack is wonderful, and although the film makes no sense in the slightest, it's still an amazing piece of cinema....

Clay Loomis This baby is funny, but only in a "so-bad-it's-good" way. What were they going for here? Was it camp? Was it supposed to be serious? I'm lost for an answer. One thing's for sure, you should never point your machine gun at your girlfriend, as Diabolik does in this film. Pointing a gun at your woman is really bad policy. Firstly, because it's not very nice. Secondly, because she might have a gun of her own and kill you.I've never seen the comics that this movie was based on, and I'm sure that would have helped me understand it better. Seen on its own merits though, this movie sucks. I loved and laughed at it, but it was nasty laughter. The kind of laughter I'm sure a movie director is not looking for.Why is this movie available in discount bins? For one thing, it's not Goldfinger. It's also not Police Squad. I'm not sure what it is, but it's pretty funny on a silly scale. What is it? Why was it made? I don't know. It heads way off into oblivion in the last 30 minutes too. Let's all go nuts. That must be an Italian thing. And speaking of Italians, why are they making movies in English? And I'm not talking English English, I'm talking American English. Did they think we were going to buy into this? Diabolik is kinda funny, in a drunken sort of way, but you won't want to watch it twice.

Bogmeister MASTER PLAN: steal everything. Based on the Italian fumetti/comic strip, this was director Bava's follow-up to "Dr.Goldfoot and the Girl Bombs" and, at first glance, would seem merely a slight upgrade from that earlier unfortunate campy fiasco. But, with the availability of a decent DVD version, the picture's strengths become more readily apparent. Bava's ability with design and color enables a fairly successful transposition from comic books to movie screens. Many might point to "Dick Tracy"(90) as another such heartfelt attempt to capture comic strip ambiance on the screen, but that one was far more blatant & apparent. Bava's creativity due to a lack of a huge budget resulted in a more subtle interpretation of comic book action, as incongruous as that sounds when talking about an adaptation of a comic strip. Some of the images here, whether large buildings or close-ups, are startling - something seems a little off in the image but you're not sure what it is. When you think about it or view it again, you realize it's a comic book come to life. Bava was also fond of filming a frame within the frame, resulting in some intriguing compositions. This also invites comparisons to "Barbarella," released a little later. But, Barbarella's images are awfully static when compared to all the movement we see here - everything and everyone moves here - whether on foot, in a sports car or on motorcycles.Since this was the sixties, one also can't help but think of the James Bond craze of this period. The obvious difference between this and the Bond imitators is that the central character is a villain, not some agent-hero. Diabolik (Law) specializes in outrageous acts of thievery; at the point the film begins, the establishment (government & police) are well aware of him, to the point that they resort to unusual methods of transporting valuables in an attempt to avoid him; of course, they fail. Diabolik wears a weird comic book-styled suit, with a mask that covers the lower half of his face; yet, you can still see the outline of his mouth. He also has a weird, sinister laugh, though this is not over-indulged. He operates from a fantastic underground hideout, an expansion of the Batcave from the "Batman" TV show. Of course, he does not work with the authorities but against them, a rather subversive message in those pre-Watergate times, where-in the audience is placed in the position of rooting for this, at best, anti-hero; but, remember, this is from Italy (see Sergio Leone's 'Man-With-no-Name' western trilogy). Also, rather than hanging out with a younger version of himself, as Batman did, this guy gets it on with a cool chick; ah, yes, the villains do have all the fun. Keep in mind, though, his violence does extend to killing cops, so it's not just a laughing matter.There's no 'main' plot line; the authorities make a deal with a local bigshot gangster (Celi, the villain from "Thunderball") to capture or eliminate Diabolik, but this plot is wrapped up way before the conclusion. The story switches to an attack by Diabolik on all the economic bastions of power, a rather direct act of terrorism (though there are no realistic repercussions, such as showing fatalities) and then there's some climactic action involving all the gold on a moving train. It's as if the filmmakers took several disparate plots from the comic strip and welded them together in one film; but, it holds together pretty well, against expectations. The ending is a little on the eerie side. Since this is, overall, an amusing and even silly take on the super-hero/super-villain genre, it may be why "Mystery Science Theater 3000" chose it as one of the films they made fun of, an honor they saved for the most silly movies out there. But, this has enough esoteric style and panache to place it above those clunkers and MSTK3 should have saved their efforts for some other truly dumb film. Anti-Hero:6 Villain:6 Femme Fatales:6 Henchmen:5 Fights:5 Stunts/Chases:7 Gadgets:6 Auto:7 Locations:6 Pace:6 overall:6